Audax Alpine Classic
200km mountain ride in Bright. A very hot and very difficult day, but an absolutely breathtaking part of Australia and I had a wonderful - if challenging -ride. Also just a really fun boys weekend away with Brad and Stu.
Geelong Half Ironman
It was a surreal experience arriving at Avalon airport on "Black Saturday" when Avalon was the hottest place on earth on that particular day. But it was our last chance to qualify for Ironman, so had to be done. Cycling from our motel to rack the bikes in transition, our bike computers said the temp was 51 degrees. Thanksfully the next day dawned 25 degrees cooler and a bit rainy and we had a great race. This was the first time I'd run for longer than a few kms at a time for 6 months and was going to be my big injury comeback. Despite bringing my heavy old Felt bike along, and doing a 10 minute run, 1 minute walk, I still came within 1 minutes and 44 seconds of breaking 5 hours. I hadn't been watching the overall time, if I had then I probably wouldn't have spent over almost 6 minutes in a portaloo! Awesome race. And a fun weekend away with Dan and Andrew.
Huskisson Long Course Triathlon
Two weeks after Geelong, I was using the new Giant bike and I was happy with my form, so ran hard and pipped last years time by 3 minutes. On almost no run training, that was cool. Plus almost everyone I know was competing, so it was an amazing social event.
Ironman Australia - Port Macquarie
An insane plan hatched over a drunken curry some months before between Dan, Mark, Andrew and myself had amazingly come to fruition. All complete hacks who had never dreamed of owning s stitch of lycra 2 years ago, here we were poised on the brink of ironman status! A whole weekend experience with all the wives and kids, some tense apprehension with the pouring rains, but we all made it. I had a very dark time on the bike, thanks to a terrible hydration strategy, but that just meant I was even more thankful to be able to finish the thing, even though the run (or walk in my case) took a full 5 hours. What an experience.
Four week around the world trip
best holiday ever. Written about elsewhere. Left 3 days after Ironman, so it was perfect recovery time! Although on that trip I committed to my next event...
Oxfam Trailwalker
Putting together a team with Andrew, Chris and Kathryn and spending 4 months fundraising, talking tactics over dinners and doing long long training runs in the bush was a brilliant time and probably the highlight of the year. I thought it was all over when I injured my achilles 3 weeks before and could barely hobble. Mark stepped in to cover for me (even though he'd done no training and hadn't seen the trail), but a few days relaxing in Hawaii for Sarah's cousin's wedding saw me come good and I ended up running about 88km of the trail with the guys (I couldn't run bw checkpoints 3 and 4 because I was driving the support car). The day itself was magic, I am so thankful that my leg came good and I got to be a part of it. And the first team event I've done, which was a delight to share with such wonderful people. Although now I need to get my first full 100km run in...
Sydney Marathon - Pacing 3:45
Definitely the most fun I've had running a marathon! Kathryn and I had decided that we'd be too tender to properly race a marathon 3 weeks after Oxfam, but really wanted to do this (for heavens sake the start is a five minute walk from my front door!), so we both elected to pace the 3.45 group together. And I'm so glad we did, it was an incredibly rewarding and fun experience that I will definitely repeat.
Canberra Half Ironman
Finally some decent weather for a tri! Although a bit hot by the end of the run... Full story blogged not long ago, but suffice to say that even though I didn't have my best race (struggled both mentally and with a lingering cold), it was still a thoroughly enjoyable experience and a vast improvement on my last time for this race in 2007. Plus another awesome weekend away with Andrew, Mark, Steve and Dog.
And for ease of reference - the year before:
2008 Goals
- Marathon <>
- Olympic Dist Triathlon <>
- Half Marathon <>
- Canberra Marathon <>
- 10km <>
- Qualify for Boston Marathon - DONE in Canberra
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